Battle of Welfesholz

The Battle of Welfesholz (15 January 1950) was a clash between the United States and the Soviet Union that took place on the border of East Germany and West Germany in what is now the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. The Americans suffered slightly more losses than the Soviets, including two vehicles, and the Soviets technically won the battle.

Incident
Tensions between the Soviet Union and United States rose after the Berlin Airlift in 1947 and several Soviet political efforts to expand their sphere of influence at the expense of the Western Bloc. The two great superpowers divided Germany after World War II and occupied opposing sections, with West Germany being occupied by Allied troops and East Germany being occupied by Soviet troops. The division inevitably led to clashes between the two sides, as they were both competitive and hostile to each other.

On 15 January 1950, the US Army and Soviet Army clashed at the town of Welfesholz in Saxony-Anhalt, a border town between East and West Germany. An American M4 Sherman tank and some US Army troops were dispatched to the snowy farmland where Soviet troops were reported to have been sighted crossing the border, and they exchanged fire with Soviet Army troops that greeted them with a T-34 tank and some Soviet troops. When the American tank was disabled by small arms fire, the Americans dispatched an M20 armored vehicle and M5 Stuart tank with more infantrymen to engage the Soviet troops. The Soviets managed to inflict heavy losses on the Americans, with their soldiers using rocket launchers to destroy the American armor. In the end, 43 Soviets and 56 Americans were killed in the skirmish, which was covered up and ignored. However, the Soviets technically won the war of attrition by killing 13 more Americans.